


There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

by SuikaShoujo



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Love Confessions, M/M, Zelos can't even handle his own trauma but now he gets to deal with Lloyd's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuikaShoujo/pseuds/SuikaShoujo
Summary: A corpse, he had been prepared for. An empty space with no one there, he had expected.Zelos had no idea how to handle what he actually found.---Zelos doesn't know why Lloyd's sudden disappearance affects him the way that it does. At least, not at first.But then he actually finds him.
Relationships: Lloyd Irving/Zelos Wilder
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RisuAlto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisuAlto/gifts).



> This is my secret santa present for [RisuAlto](/users/RisuAlto/) from the Zelloyd Discord Server! One of the suggested prompts she gave was "Rescue from torture/kidnapping," and you know what, I couldn't have asked for a better prompt, because hurt/comfort is my main love in fic writing, even though it's been a bit since I posted one. So I ended up going a bit further than expected, and now it's got 3 chapters (2 and 3 will be posted in the next couple weeks, I just need to completely finish them). I had a lot of fun working on this, so I hope it makes for a good gift, too!

Zelos had never been happier to see the color red in his life.

At first, he couldn't help but doubt his own eyes. Sure, he had trusted the information Sheena got for him through Mizuho's expansive information network, enough to drop everything and travel halfway across the newly-united world, but, well… he hadn't been optimistic. He hadn't allowed himself that luxury, not when getting his hopes up would only make it more painful in the event that it was all a mistake. He blinked rapidly before focusing his attention on the figure at his feet, adrenaline and outright  _ fear  _ blurring his sight as though he was stuck in a dream.

It was a feeling he had grown well-accustomed to in the past two months.

But no matter how long he spent confirming and re-confirming what he saw, Zelos eventually reached the same conclusion one last time, and the storm of emotions it brought forth in him was enough to pull him down onto his knees without a single word, or even a sound. All he could do was stare numbly at the absolute _miracle_ he faced, and tentatively extend a violently trembling hand towards the figure's-- to _his_ \-- face. The moment his fingers brushed against his cheek, and Zelos could feel the way he stirred just enough to serve as a reaction to it, the wave of relief that crashed over him was so intense that he wondered if it was possible for it to drown him.

For one long, excruciating moment, Zelos found himself unable to say even a single word, as though it would break the spell hanging over him and the one whose presence cast it in the first place. Even the other’s very _name_ was caught in his throat. He couldn’t count the number of times he had called out to him in the past and thought nothing of it, but as he stared almost dazedly into a pair of dull yet _painfully_ familiar eyes, the single syllable felt completely foreign to him, on the tip of his tongue yet somehow entirely unspeakable. He still wasn’t sure if any of this was even _real_ , and if it wasn’t, he was certain that saying his name would bring it all to an end in an instant. Zelos would wake up, and he would be gone again.

Zelos  _ knew  _ he couldn’t take that risk. 

He  _ refused  _ to lose him all over again.

He  _ couldn’t. _

“Can’t be… Zel…?”

In the end, it wasn’t Zelos who broke the silence at all. It took the other man a few moments to bring his voice to an audible level, but even through the obvious exhaustion, even at a volume that Zelos had to physically move closer to make out, he knew. He  _ knew  _ this voice, and if the past two months of sleepless nights had taught him anything, it was far closer to the real thing than anything his own imagination could conjure up. The doubts in Zelos’ mind were fading away little by little, until suddenly, his mind was clearer than it had been in a long time, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person he was looking at had to be--

“ _ Lloyd.” _

Zelos blinked.

He was still there.

His face was slimmer than Zelos remembered, his ankle was twisted in a way that made Zelos feel sick to his stomach, and the obnoxious red jacket Lloyd loved so much had been torn to a point where it was less of a jacket and more of a makeshift blanket that was wrapped tightly around his visibly trembling shoulders. His bare arms and the visible parts of his chest and torso were littered with cuts and bruises of varying age and severity, though it was hard to make them out between the darkness of the underground cell and the sheer amount of dirt and grime covering every exposed portion of his body. 

But none of those things, however painful they were to look at, could mask the sheer  _ familiarity _ of Lloyd's gaze, locked firmly onto his with an intensity that made it clear he was just as dumbstruck as Zelos.

"You're…  _ real,  _ aren't you?" Lloyd's voice was still a whisper of its former self, and there was an uncertainty to each syllable that Zelos was entirely unaccustomed to. "Or did they finally-- I'm still alive, right?"

Zelos didn't even think about it. He cast aside any notions of pride, as well as any feelings of revulsion Lloyd's filthy state would have normally caused him, and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face into Lloyd's shoulder and feeling his resolve to stay calm collapse bit by bit.

Even after spending so much time in a cold, damp cell, Lloyd was still so  _ warm _ . He was  _ breathing _ . He was  _ right there _ .

He was  _ alive. _

Zelos could have cried, he was so relieved.

“Yeah,” he said, his own voice dropping somewhere barely above a whisper as he clung to Lloyd. There was so much more he wanted to say, so much more he wanted to  _ do _ , but he felt frozen in place, too afraid to ruin the moment. “I’m gonna get you out of here, Bud, I promise.” Zelos glanced up with the most reassuring smile he could manage through his exhaustion, but Lloyd only blinked at him and frowned a bit, as though he still didn’t fully comprehend the situation.

“I’m guessing walking is out of the question with injuries like that,” Zelos continued as he pulled back just a bit more from Lloyd, “so while I wouldn’t normally offer this to a guy, I  _ guess  _ I can carry you on my back, just this once.” It was a pathetic and poorly-timed attempt at humor, even by Zelos’ standards, but part of him hoped that it would help Lloyd relax a bit. It was almost unsettling to Zelos how little reaction he showed to his situation. 

For as long as he had known him, Lloyd had always seemed almost larger than life in the way he responded to the world around him. When they came across an interesting new landmark in their travels, he would run off ahead, grinning almost childishly as he told Zelos to hurry up. When he heard strangers’ tales of how they had suffered since the reunification of the world, he clenched his fists and apologized, as though he had been the one to personally cause their suffering. He always seemed so  _ alive _ , as though he felt things more intensely than anyone else in the world. 

But in that moment, if he hadn't been breathing or helping Zelos get him situated for their escape, he could easily have been mistaken for a corpse. He didn't say a word the entire time, only made small noises to respond "yes" or "no" to anything Zelos said. And when Lloyd had his arms wrapped around Zelos' neck for support, his hands felt like ice every time they brushed against his chest. Zelos quickly had to stop looking down at them when he noticed the scarred-over flesh around his wrists-- had he been handcuffed at some point, until he stopped resisting? And while it shouldn't have been a surprise to see his exsphere missing from its usual spot on his hand, it still chilled Zelos straight to his core.

A corpse, he had been prepared for. An empty space with no one there, he had  _ expected _ .

Zelos had no idea how to handle what he actually found.

"...Find us..." Lloyd's voice was still faint and trembling, but after such a long period of silence, it still made Zelos jump a bit. 

"You say something, Bud?"

"The people here. The ones in charge. T-they're gonna find us. They're gonna take me back. They'll probably take you this time, i-if they don't just kill you first. You won't be able to run if they catch up, n-not with me on your back." Lloyd's words sped up and slurred together more with every sentence, his panic only increasing as he rambled. "You should- you should just--"

"I'm not leaving you behind." Even in this nightmare of a situation, Zelos knew Lloyd well enough to know what he had been about to say. "They won't find us, I can promise you that. And even if they do, they're not laying another hand on you."

"But--"

"I didn't come here alone." 

“...Huh?”

“As much as I’d love to take all the credit for such a  _ daring  _ rescue, I’m just the one who came down here to see if you were--”  _ alive, _ Zelos found himself about to say, but the word got caught somewhere in his throat. All he had done for the last two months was talk about the  _ what if _ s, and with the answer to his questions clinging tightly to his back, he wasn’t sure he had the emotional stamina left to imagine the worst-case scenario. He coughed once, and tried again. “If you were around here somewhere. There was a separate group that took out the guys responsible, and everyone else is on standby for once we get out of here.” Lloyd lifted his head up a bit , presumably to ask for more details, but rather than explain, Zelos only chuckled a bit. 

“I promise I’ll give you all the juicy details later, but it’s a longer story than I’m guessing you’re up for right now. They’re all people you know, though. People who will definitely be glad you’re safe.” Under normal circumstances, he knew Lloyd would have continued pressing him for answers, but he was only proven right when all he received in response was a small grunt of approval. 

The pause that followed was long enough for Zelos to wonder if Lloyd had given into his exhaustion and fallen asleep, his slow, steady breaths brushing against his right ear and his grip loosening ever so slightly around his shoulders. It was entirely understandable-- Zelos wasn’t entirely sure what Lloyd had been through while in captivity, but given the injuries littering his body (which he was almost positive he had yet to see the worst of) and how unusually easy it was to carry his full weight, he knew it couldn’t have been pleasant. Even on the other side of things, sleep hadn’t been kind to Zelos in Lloyd’s absence, either. So it startled him a bit when Lloyd spoke again, quietly enough that he likely would have been inaudible if they weren’t so close together.

“...Knew you’d come.” 

Zelos blinked. “What was that?”

“Knew you wouldn’t stop looking for me.” Lloyd buried his face slightly more deeply into Zelos’ hair. “Always… always believed that. Trusted you.”

If Zelos hadn’t been overwhelmed by his emotions before, he  _ definitely  _ was now.

“You got that right,” he managed to choke out after a moment, keeping his voice low to try and keep it steady. He couldn’t even think of a way to respond that matched his prior, lighter tone, so in a rare moment of sincerity, he answered with his true feelings. They were the ones he always carried with him but feared speaking aloud, as though they would be tainted passing over the tongue of a liar like himself. He had been fully prepared to hide them behind a veil of teasing banter and half-truths. But in that underground corridor, lined with dilapidated prison cells and lights closer to burning out than lighting the way, Zelos couldn't help but let the veil fall away, just for a moment.

"I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't."

Neither of them said another word, but as they drew closer to the light shining in from the surface just above them, Zelos swore he felt Lloyd's hold on him tighten, just a little.


	2. Chapter 2

Zelos had imagined his reunion with Lloyd countless times since his traveling companion’s sudden disappearance, when-- in a complete reversal of their usual routine-- Zelos had made it back to Triet’s inn before him after a day of splitting up for information on exspheres. Zelos, ever the insomniac, would always be out on these sorts of excursions until long after sundown, usually preferring to “take the scenic route” while Lloyd went directly to potential leads. Lloyd had scolded him often for it at the beginning of their shared journey, but after Zelos’ wandering helped them stumble onto a few extremely unlikely bits of info, he had relented, with the condition that he wasn’t allowed to  _ entirely  _ ignore the purpose of their trip. 

Zelos had put on a big show of complaining about it at first, as he tended to do when Lloyd gave him  _ any  _ instructions, but as with the many similar instances before, he never had any intentions of refusing. He would have followed Lloyd to the ends of the earth and back again, and he knew it, whether he was willing to admit it or not. He had a feeling Lloyd knew it, too, which was why he got off with little more than a sharp glare and a single pointed comment at his expense. 

Even on the night of Lloyd’s disappearance, Zelos had stepped into their room at the inn with two new potentially helpful pieces of information. Lloyd would generally return to wherever they were staying an hour or two earlier than Zelos, when the sun had just barely set for the night, and either do some extra training or work on whatever small piece of craftsmanship had his attention that week until his partner returned. Then they would share anything interesting they had found over dinner, and use the rest of the night simply relaxing in each others’ presence. It was an entirely unspoken routine, but one they both followed nonetheless. 

Which was what made it immediately concerning to Zelos when he returned to find their room empty, save for their belongings. It started off as a slight feeling of unease deep in the pit of his stomach, and only grew harder to ignore as the hours passed. He had spent most of the night pacing the room, occasionally checking the same spots over and over to make sure there wasn’t any sort of note explaining his absence. It was unusual for Lloyd to stay out late, but it was downright  _ unheard of  _ for him to do so without letting Zelos know in some way.

By the time the earliest rays of sunlight appeared, Zelos couldn’t ignore it any longer. Something was wrong.

_ Very  _ wrong.

The next two months (58 days, to be more exact, but as far as Zelos was concerned it could have been 58  _ years _ and felt exactly the same) went by in a strange haze of grief, confusion, and, eventually, a certain numb feeling that followed Zelos everywhere he went. It hadn’t taken long for him to contact all of their companions from their initial journey in hopes that they might know something, and while none of them had been able to provide anything useful, they  _ had  _ agreed to help with his search in any way they could. Regal used his extensive business connections to ask about potential sightings in other cities. Sheena used her status in Mizuho to gather as much intel about the rest of the world as she could. Even Raine and Genis reconnected with old acquaintances from their own journey to see if they could find any answers. 

For the first week, Zelos didn’t sleep. Not well, at least. He did attempt to maintain his usual carefree persona, especially after everyone agreed to spend some time together for their initial search. He constantly assured everyone that he thought Lloyd was fine, and had “Probably just found a beautiful woman and run off with her.” Normally these comments would have earned him dirty looks and potential physical injury at the hands of the rest of the group, but maybe they had all picked up on how genuinely worried Zelos was underneath it all, or maybe they were all just too emotionally drained to bother, because they largely went ignored more than anything else. 

He gave up on the jokes when he realized they were only making him feel worse.

It wasn’t until Lloyd had been missing for 8 days that Zelos finally let his guard down and admitted how he felt, and even then, it was purely by chance. Just a few hours into yet another night of endless tossing and turning, he found himself jolting upright with little to no warning, as though staying in bed and repeating the cycle for even a  _ second _ longer would be enough to destroy what little semblance of self-composure he had left. He didn’t bother trying to stop himself when that same impulse had him pull on his boots and leave his room, no clear destination in mind besides getting out of the space he was in. If he was going to clear his head, staring at the same ceiling for hours at a time wasn’t going to be how he did it.

But in their time apart, Zelos had forgotten that Colette was no stranger to sleep troubles herself, and she had gotten up to follow him when she heard his footsteps from down the hall. He had almost managed to get outside when she called out and came running up to meet him.

"If you're going for a walk, would you mind if I joined you? Um, only if you want me to, of course!" Zelos turned around. He hesitated to answer at first-- he  _ really  _ hadn't intended to let anyone see him in his current state, especially not after several days of trying to come off as mostly unaffected by the whole situation they were in, but one look at the dark circles under Colette's eyes was enough to halt any objections he might have had. Her tone had been as cheerful as ever, but the apprehension and weariness it barely concealed were far too familiar for Zelos to ignore. So instead, he nodded and beckoned her forward.

Neither of them spoke for a long while. There wasn’t anything that needed to be said, because Zelos was certain they had the exact same thoughts circling through their heads. He could see it in the tense smile she put on whenever he looked her way, and in the way she kept appearing to be on the verge of breaking the silence before looking back down at her feet.

It still amazed him, sometimes, how well he could understand the feelings of his fellow Chosen.

It amazed him even more how well  _ she  _ could understand  _ his _ .

“It’s okay, you know,” Colette finally said after a while, breaking the trance their long silence had caused in Zelos. He blinked a few times and looked over to the girl by his side. She was still looking directly at the ground, and while Zelos knew she was talking to him, something about the way she spoke made it seem as though she was addressing herself, too. “To be worried about him. I-- we all are, you know?” 

“...And what makes you think I’m not?” Maybe it was the lack of sleep finally taking its toll on his mood, or maybe it was just the implications of the words themselves, but Zelos found himself responding much more harshly than he intended to. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Colette after he spoke, but the brief hesitation before her next words made it clear that it was a more serious reaction than she had been expecting. 

“I don’t think that at all,” she said softly and slowly, clearly doing her best not to say the wrong thing. “But, well… I know what it’s like, putting on a brave face so everyone else can feel more at ease. And I know that the more you do it, the harder it gets, and the more it hurts when everyone still manages to figure out how you really feel.” Colette’s footsteps came to a sudden stop, and when Zelos turned around to face her, she was finally looking up at him, the smile across her lips so fragile that the cool autumn breeze blowing past them could have easily carried it away. “Lloyd was the one who taught me that.”

Colette’s final words seemed to make time grind to a halt, if only for a moment or two. Neither of them spoke or moved for several seconds, but for the first time that night, the two Chosens looked each other in the eye. She was trying to comfort him. She was trapped in the same limbo he was, waiting to find out if her closest childhood friend was still alive, and  _ she  _ was comforting  _ him _ . 

Zelos felt his resolve crumble. He couldn’t lie again, not to Colette. Even if he didn’t think she would see straight through him if he did, it felt  _ wrong  _ to brush her off.

“I haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since it happened.” It took Zelos an extra moment of hesitation, and he had to turn around so he wasn’t facing Colette, but as soon as the first couple of words were out, he didn’t think he would be able to stop until he told her everything. “Since we started traveling together just the two of us, we’ve always shared a room or a campsite when it came time to stop for the night. He’s more of a morning person than I am, so he’s usually out cold way before I even get in bed. And I dunno, it’s stupid, but…” Zelos laughed sharply and rested his forehead in his hand, reflexively shielding his face from view even though Colette was still standing behind him. “I guess I must’ve gotten used to hearing him while I fell asleep, ‘cause now I can’t help but notice how quiet it is. It makes me uneasy.” He laughed again, but the grin quickly faded from his face, and his voice wavered more with each sentence. “See? Pretty ridiculous, right?”

“N-no, not at all!” Coming from anyone else, Zelos doubted he would have believed the sudden outburst, but he knew this tone. Colette only sounded like this when she was absolutely certain of what she was saying, which was unsurprising, considering who she had probably learned it from. Zelos had heard enough impassioned speeches to recognize the tone immediately, and he had to hold back another laugh, even as the familiarity of the scene unfolding sent a sharp pain through his chest. "I know we're all worried, but…" Colette seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. "I'm sure you two have gotten a lot closer since we all spit up. So, um, I don't think anyone expects you to act like everything is okay. I don't think that's what Lloyd would want, either."

Another long moment of silence passed between the two of them, Colette's words weighing heavily on Zelos' shoulders. She was right. She was right, and Zelos  _ knew _ she was right. As well as Colette understood him as a fellow Chosen, her knowledge of Lloyd's feelings towards his friends ran deeper than anyone else Zelos knew, including Zelos himself. After all, if Lloyd hadn't worried so much about Colette's happiness, Zelos would never have met him to begin with.

Zelos still didn't understand why Lloyd had brought  _ him  _ on his quest for exspheres when he already cared about someone else so openly and so deeply. 

Sometimes, though, he thought he might be afraid to learn the answer, so he never thought very hard about it.  _ Especially _ not when there were far more pressing issues to dwell on, when he wasn't sure if he'd even get to see Lloyd again and ask him.

"I don't think he would want us to dwell on the worst case scenario either, though." Zelos finally found it in himself to turn back and face Colette when he spoke. "I'm not gonna talk about him like he's dead until I  _ know  _ that he's dead."

"That's--" Colette bit her lip and, for just a moment, averted her gaze. That moment of hesitation was all it took for Zelos to know exactly what she was thinking. It was clear enough to ignite stronger emotions in Zelos' chest than he had allowed himself to feel in over a week, and they quickly escalated into a blaze that he wasn’t sure he could contain.

"You don't think he's coming back, do you." It was a statement, not a question. Colette bit her lip and tried to turn away even further, but Zelos grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to face him. "You're giving up on him."

"N-no! I just--"

"After everything he did for you, you're gonna leave him for dead? Just so you can move on with your life guilt-free?"

Zelos knew he was being unbelievably cruel. He knew that Colette didn't deserve the criticism he was giving her, especially when she had gone out of her way to cheer him up. And deep down, a tiny, rational part of him was telling him that she was doing the right thing. If he kept ignoring the very real possibility that things wouldn’t end the way they wanted, then it was only going to hurt him more when ( _ if _ , the rest of him protested) they found out their search had been for nothing. And a long time ago, before everything-- before  _ Lloyd-- _ Zelos might have been able to accept that way of thinking. It would have been his first instinct, even, if he hadn’t already witnessed a small handful of miracles brought about by the very boy they were looking for.

“...That’s not it.” Colette’s voice suddenly softened, and while Zelos could feel her shoulders trembling beneath his grasp, she finally managed to look him straight in the eye as she spoke. “I’m not giving up. None of us are. That’s why we’re all working so hard to search for him. It’s not just because we want closure, it’s because we all want to see for ourselves that he’s safe.” She smiled, although the effect was lessened considerably by the tears she had to wipe away. “I know that’s what you want, too, Zelos. Maybe more than any of us.”

All at once, the whirlwind of emotions in Zelos’ mind came to a violent halt, as though he had been punched in the stomach. He let his hand fall away from Colette’s shoulder and took a couple of steps back, her words echoing through his skull as an endless refrain.

_ More than any of us. _

“He  _ is  _ safe,” Zelos finally said after yet another long pause. “There’s no way Lloyd would just go and die like that. Not when he still has so much he wants to do.”

_ So much that I want to  _ help _ him do _ .

“I…” Colette’s expression shifted a few times, before settling on the same fragile smile as before. “You might be right.”

For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, Zelos found himself smiling as well. “Yeah. He’s the kind of guy that probably wouldn’t die, even if you killed him.”

_ He would refuse to vanish. _

Colette’s smile grew a bit more relaxed at this, and neither of them said another word on the subject as they made their way back to the inn.

_ I trust him _ .

\-----------------------------

A week turned into two, which turned into a month, which turned into almost two months, and resolve among the search party was beginning to waver.

No one could quite seem to come out and say it, but as more and more leads went cold, and more and more days passed with nothing even resembling good news, the tension that hung constantly above them only grew thicker. Casual comments about the work several of them had been neglecting became more frequent as well, and before long, parts of the group were making travel plans to return to wherever they were supposed to be.

"I do apologize, but this is a busy time of year for the Lezarano Company, and there is far too much work to keep leaving things to my assistants." Regal did seem genuinely apologetic, for what it was worth, and he promised to continue contacting his various connections from Altamira for any information on Lloyd's whereabouts. But it wasn't hard to pick up on the sense of resignation in his tone. 

Zelos still hadn't wavered in his conviction that Lloyd was out there somewhere, still waiting to be found. But even he had to admit that their daily routine of sorting through information, getting their hopes up, and ultimately ending the day no closer to their goal than they had started was beginning to wear him down. There were constant dark circles under his eyes after weeks of just enough sleep to get by, and the anxious pit in the bottom of his stomach had become the one thing he could still count on in his day-to-day life.

But he couldn't stop.

Everyone else had responsibilities to return to, but what exactly would Zelos do with himself if Lloyd never turned up? He had spent every day since the worlds had been reunited following Lloyd. He hadn't had any real goals of his own, besides running away from any issues that could have arisen in the church and helping Lloyd in any way he could. Would he continue with the job Lloyd left behind? Would he go back to Meltokio? He didn't know, and he didn't  _ want  _ to think about it, but the choice hung over his head nonetheless.

Lloyd had been the one who gave him the freedom to live however he wanted, and now his absence threatened to trap him inside a different sort of cage. Zelos could have laughed at the irony if he weren't so damn  _ tired. _

Still, he waited.

\--------------------

The news reached Zelos just minutes after midnight, on one of the rare nights he managed to fall asleep.

"...What did you just say?"

Sheena stood in the doorway to Zelos' room, slightly out of breath and with wide eyes. Zelos had been rudely awakened by the sound of his door being thrown open only moments ago, and he couldn't quite process what the ninja was telling him, but the first time she said it, he was convinced that he was still dreaming. It wouldn't have been the first time his unconscious mind played such a twisted joke on him, and he was  _ positive  _ it wouldn't be the last. But then she said the same thing a second time, and it managed to sink in.

Zelos felt sick, overjoyed, terrified, and  _ hopeful  _ for the first time in 57 days.

He knew Sheena had more to say, that she was tripping over her words to give him the details of the information a couple of Mizuho spies were able to get their hands on, but none of it fully reached him through the constant reverberation of her first statement through his skull, and the immediate thought of his own that it brought forth.

_ We know who took Lloyd, and where they are. _

_ We have to take him back. _

_ Alive, or… _

_ He's alive, he  _ has  _ to be, he's  _ Lloyd,  _ he can't be dead, not when we've gotten this far, Lloyd would never leave me by myself, he  _ promised  _ me he wouldn't disappear, I  _ trusted  _ him I  _ **_listened_ ** _ to him I never  _ **_once_ ** _ gave up on him and he would never give up on  _ **_me_ ** _ and he has to be  _ fine--

By the time that Zelos, Sheena, Colette, and both Sage siblings had prepared their Rheairds for the long journey to the coordinates Sheena had been given, he knew that there was a basic plan of sorts in place for when they arrived, that he would be going in to find Lloyd while Colette and Sheena took out any members of the group responsible for his kidnapping, Genis and Presea took care of any that tried to come back in from the outside, and Raine stood by in case her healing spells were needed on a moment's notice.

He would have to thank them all for strategizing later, but Zelos was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to add much to the conversation.

And he would stay that way for what felt like a long long time, until, suddenly, in the corner of a dark, damp prison buried in the lower levels of an abandoned mine, he saw a flash of red, and everything started to move again.


End file.
